Suns drop to 3rd best title odds as Warriors advance to second round

The Sportsbooks are quick! The final four teams in the Western Conference are finally set and guess who they say has the best odds among West teams win the NBA Title?

Within minutes of the Golden State Warriors winning Game 7 of their first round series in Sacramento, and looking like the 2022 Champ selves in the process, the betting lines shifted dramatically.

Over at DraftKings, the Warriors now have the second best odds (+550) to win the 2023 NBA Finals, behind the Boston Celtics (+200) of the Eastern Conference, and just ahead of the West’s Phoenix Suns (+600) and Denver Nuggets (+650). The Lakers have the worst odds of the four remaining West teams to win the championship (+800).

Those four West teams will face off in the second round, as the Suns have already begun their series against the Nuggets (down 0-1) and the Lakers will play the Warriors starting on Tuesday.

That order of NBA champ odds does not hold up when you look at the betting odds to win the West to even GET there to the Finals.

After winning Game 1 by 18 points over the Phoenix Suns, the Nuggets now have the best odds (+220) to win the West, just ahead of the Warriors (+240) and the Suns (+270).

Obviously, these odds will shift as the money comes in. And just as obviously, these odds don’t actually determine the outcome of any series.

Still, based on historical results across of NBA playoffs through 2018, the Nuggets do have an 86% chance to win their series over the Suns, given their 1-0 series lead and home court advantage.

Of course, just this year the Warriors and Suns both won their first round series after losing Game 1. The Warriors even won after going down 2-0, and the Suns have lost their last two series they led 2-0. So losing Game 1 or even Game 2 doesn’t mean the series is over!

If somehow the Suns and Warriors end up facing each other in the West Finals, you should know the Suns beat the Warriors 3 out of 4 times this year (Warriors only win was against a depleted Suns team), while the Kings had lost 3 of 4 to the same regular-season Warriors.

Next Up

Suns at Nuggets on Monday, at 7:00 PM on TNT

Lakers at Warriors on Tuesday. at 7:00 PM on TNT